To coincide with the premiere of the new Septekh video for the song “Superheated Liquid Iron Core”, we questioned Staffan Persson (drummer) about the video.

Septekh

Where was the video for “Superheated Liquid Iron Core” shot?

At the clubhouse of the rugged but helpful motor club “Southern Streeters” in Södertälje, south of Stockholm. The outdoor shots were filmed either just outside the bar or somewhere nearby. We have actually played a show there before (under somewhat other circumstances to say the least) so it came full circle now with shooting the video there and having the crew in it too.

How long did it take to make?

Going from idea to pre-production went pretty fast. Then we had to find the cars, get people on board and plan the shots. The director Richard Jarnhed and his crew are true professionals so it was all very smooth and really fun. Principal photography took two days. Then there were delays, accidents and bad luck so editing and other post production related things dragged on a bit. We also spent a day rehearsing the stunts before filming started. So all in all it was a LOT of hard work. Which I hope shows in the final result. But there was nothing like building a flamethrower, which we did for the “Burn It To The Ground” video, this time around thankfully.

What was the concept for the video’s storyline/flow?

The main storyline was pretty straight forward. On one level at least. Of course it had to become a bit convoluted and obscured in the end. It’s a very classic formula and doing only that would have been somewhat boring I think. One thing that we wanted are these connections to our previous works so there a several nods, hints and small details that might be missed at first.

This time we also went all out an then some with both an intro and epilogue. Back in the day music videos were big and bloated. Grand and epic!

Is the video medium the most effective way of reaching new fans?

Don’t know. It’s one way at least. And it’s something more than just music so I guess people could get in to it because of the visuals and maybe stay for the music?

What is the band currently planning for the rest of 2015?

Very soon our latest album “Plan For World Domination” will be released in a lavishly beautiful LIMITED DOUBLE VINYL EDITION! 200 hand numbered copies.

We also have most songs written for our next album. Finalizing them is something we are very much looking forward to this year.

We are also looking to go on tour this fall. If anyone has got any offers or suggestions please get in touch!

Thank you for the interview and support! Please share and spread the word. And remember: Your Mother is a goat! 😉

Deluxe editions of Led Zeppelin’s final three studio albums: Presence, In Through The Out Door, and Coda will be released in July. The reaction to the first six Led Zepplin album reissues has been extraordinary, with albums charting in the Top 10 around the globe whilst also garnering 5-star reviews and other critical accolades along the way.

As with the previous deluxe editions, Presence, In Through The Out Door, and Coda have been newly remastered by guitarist and producer Jimmy Page and are accompanied by companion audio comprised of previously unreleased music related to the original release selected and compiled by Page.

Presence, In Through The Out Door, and Coda will each be available July 31 from Atlantic/Swan Song in the following formats:

Single CD – Remastered original album. Presence and Coda will be packaged in a gatefold card wallet. All CD and LP versions of In Through The Out Door will be wrapped in a brown paper page replicating its initial release.
Deluxe Edition (2CD and 3CD) – Remastered album, plus a second disc of unreleased companion audio. Coda will feature two companion audio discs.
Single LP – Remastered album on 180-gram vinyl, packaged in a sleeve that replicates the LP’s first pressing in exacting detail. All vinyl versions of In Through The Out Door will also include the water-sensitive insert that replicates the inner sleeve from the album’s initial release.
Deluxe Edition Vinyl – Remastered album and unreleased companion audio on 180-gram vinyl. Coda will feature two companion LPs.
Digital Download – Remastered album and companion audio will both be available.
Super Deluxe Boxed Set – This collection includes:
Remastered album on CD in vinyl replica sleeve.
Companion audio on CD in card wallet.
Remastered album on 180-gram vinyl in a sleeve replicating first pressing.
Companion audio on 180-gram vinyl.
High-def audio download card of all content at 96kHz/24 bit.
Hard bound, 72+ page book filled with rare and previously unseen photos and memorabilia.
High quality print of the original album cover, the first 30,000 of which will be individually numbered.

Originally released in 1976, Presence was recorded during a whirlwind 18-day session at Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany. The album—which peaked at #1 in both the U.S. and UK and was certified triple platinum—crackles with energy on Zeppelin classics like “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” and “Achilles Last Stand” and delivers powerful jolts of the group at its visceral best.

The companion audio disc that accompanies Presence has five unreleased reference mixes from the sessions, which reveal works in progress. Along with alternate incarnations of “For Your Life” “Achilles Last Stand” and “Royal Orleans,” there is also the previously unheard instrumental curiously titled “10 Ribs & All/Carrot Pod Pod (Pod).”

On its release in the summer of 1979, In Through The Out Door topped the U.S. and UK album charts and has since been certified six-times platinum. Sadly, it would be the last album that Led Zeppelin recorded prior to drummer John Bonham’s passing the following year. Among the seven album tracks are “Fool In The Rain” and “All My Love,” two songs that remain rock radio staples to this day.

The album’s companion audio disc features an unreleased rough mix of every track from the original album, including early versions with working titles such as “The Hook” (“All My Love”), “The Epic” (“Carouselambra”), and “Blot” (“I’m Gonna Crawl”).

The appropriately titled Coda was Led Zeppelin’s final album of studio recordings. Released in 1982, it was comprised of eight unreleased tracks recorded between 1970 and 1978. It peaked at #6 on the album charts and has been certified platinum in the U.S.

The reissue campaign ends with a double-barrel blast of Led. Coda will be the only Led Zeppelin deluxe edition to include two companion discs, featuring 15 tracks recorded between 1968 and 1974. The oldest song in the collection is also perhaps the most interesting. The frenetic blues jam “Sugar Mama” was recorded in 1968 at Olympic Studios during sessions for the band’s eponymous debut. The song was completed but never officially released until now. “Baby Come On Home” from the same session is also included in the set. Also included is the previously unreleased “St. Tristan’s Sword,” a rollicking instrumental recorded during the Led Zeppelin III sessions in 1970.

In 1972, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page took a fabled trip to India to perform with the Bombay Orchestra and now, for the first time, recordings from these sessions will be officially released with dynamic takes on “Friends” and “Four Hands” (“Four Sticks” from Led Zeppelin IV). Among the many other highlights featured here is an early version of “When The Levee Breaks” from 1970 titled “If It Keeps On Raining”; rough mixes of “The Wanton Song” and “In The Light,” from the Physical Graffiti sessions at Headley Grange, the latter a different alternate version than the one included in the Physical Graffiti deluxe edition; and an instrumental mix of “Poor Tom” from 1970.

In 1968, Jimmy Page formed Led Zeppelin, one of the most influential, innovative and successful groups in modern music, having sold more than 300 million albums worldwide. The band rose from the ashes of The Yardbirds, when Page brought in Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones. In 1969, Led Zeppelin released its self-titled debut. It marked the beginning of a 12-year reign, during which the group was widely considered to be the biggest and most innovative rock band in the world.

Led Zeppelin continues to be honored for its pivotal role in music history. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, and a year later was awarded with the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm. Founding members Page, Plant, and Jones, and along with Jason Bonham, the son of John Bonham – took the stage at London’s O2 Arena in 2007 to headline a tribute concert for Ahmet Ertegun, a dear friend and Atlantic Records’ founder. The band was honored for its lifetime contribution to American culture at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012. In January of 2014, the band won their first ever Grammy award as Celebration Day, which captured their live performance at the Ertegun tribute concert, was named Best Rock Album

Edmonton, AB’s power metal quintet THE ORDER OF CHAOS has teamed up with Metal-Rules.com for the premiere of their new music video and title track ‘Apocalypse Moon’ from their upcoming album being released on July 24th in North America and later this year in Europe via German label Killer Metal Records to follow 2013’s Sexwitch EP. The album was recorded/mixed and mastered at the Physics Lab by Terry Paholek in Edmonton and features twelve brand new tracks that showcase the talent and diversity of one of Canada’s up and coming heavy metal bands. The album features Amanda Kiernan (Into Eternity) on vocals, John Simon Fallon and John Saturley on guitar, Tim Prevost on drums and Duncan Hickerty on bass guitar whom has been recently replaced by Barrett Klesko of All Else Fails for live performances.

Barrett Klesko also runs FadeBack Studios United and directed and edited the video with choreography by Maria Harrigan and makeup by Molly Anna.

“The Concept behind the Apocalypse Moon music video is the cycle of rebirth. Mankind’s strength is tempered in the the depths of personal darkness.” comments director and new bassist Barrett Klesko.

Vorum

@ Nambucca, London

24th May 2015

Review by Jarod Lawley
Photography by K.T.T.

Situated on the famous Holloway Road, Nambucca isn’t normally the go-to venue for metal gigs in London, but it served as the arena for the arrival of Finish death masters Vorum.Read the rest of this entry »

Caparison Guitars are more than delighted to welcome Parker Lundgren of multi-platinum rock legends Queensrÿche, into the family.

Many people who have caught Queensrÿche on their most recent tour will already have seen Parker rocking out on stage with his new Angelus M3B and Orbit FX models that have also been used to lay down all of his guitar parts on the new Queensrÿche album.

“Caparison guitars are the best playing, and best built guitars I have ever played. Every detail is perfect and I can play things on Caparison guitars that I physically can’t play on other guitars. They are like samurai swords; built with precision and built for destruction!”

As usual, guitar wizard Jeff Waters handles all songwriting duties, plays all guitar & bass, engineers, produces, mixes and masters “Suicide Society”… and Waters is also back commanding lead vocal duties, as he did on the critically acclaimed “King of the Kill” (1994), “Refresh the Demon” (1996), “Remains” (1997) and other Annihilator albums over the years.

Waters on his return to vocal duties: “Dave (Padden/vocalist from 03-14) & I have, essentially, been Annihilator since 2003 but he resigned last December, citing having had enough of touring, being away from home and other commitments. I thank him for his 11 years with Annihilator. That said, Annihilator and I are known for never giving up and, occasionally, coming up with something even better than its former offering(s): this is undeniably the case with “Suicide Society!”

Listen to some clips from “SUICIDE SOCIETY” and see the CD cover here:

With the title and release date just announced for SLAYER’sRepentless, due out September 11, 2015 (Nuclear Blast), today the thrash icons announce their heaviest release ever – literally – Repentless, Metal Eagle Edition. Made of aluminum alloy, measuring 15″ X 17″ X 3″ and weighing in at a hefty seven pounds, the Metal Eagle Edition will house a deluxe digipak of the new RepentlessCD plus exclusive bonus content to be detailed soon. The limited (only 3000 copies worldwide) and numbered Metal Eagle Edition will be a direct-to-consumer item and available exclusively via the Nuclear Blast mail-order online stores. Pre-orders are available now, so log onto http://nblast.de/SlayerRepentlessEagle for purchasing info.

The highly-anticipated Repentless is SLAYER’s 11th studio album, the first since 2009’s critically-acclaimed, Grammy-nominated World Painted Blood and the first with producer Terry Date (Pantera, Slipknot, Soundgarden). The band – Tom Araya/bass, vocals, Kerry King/guitar, Paul Bostaph/drums, and EXODUS/SLAYER touring guitarist Gary Holt, who recorded lead guitar parts for about a half-dozen of the album’s new tracks – started recording Repentless in March 2014, and made the track “Implode” available as a free download in April of that year. The band and Date continued to record between September 2014 and mid-January 2015 at Henson Studios in Los Angeles. For the album, “Implode” was completely re-recorded from the ground up, and “When The Stillness Comes,” used as an instrumental track in a Scion commercial, got a revamped intro and all new vocals.

Henchman Promotions, promoters of this year’s Monsters of Rot V festival in Letterbreen, Co Fermanagh, have announced a rather sweet competition over on their Facebook page. If you’re at all interested in attending this, ahem, monstrous day of music then check it out!

From Henchman Promotions:

OK monsters, competition time!

If our Facebook page, Henchman Promotions reaches 900 likes before Monsters of Rot V, then we’ll randomly select one lucky winner out of the page likes, to win all of the following gear!!!

DENNIS DUNAWAY

INTERVIEW BY MARKO SYRJALA

Dennis Dunaway is an American musician, best known as the original bass guitarist for the Alice Cooper Group from 1969–1974. The original band released 7 classic albums, and Dunaway co-wrote some of the band’s most notable songs, including “I’m Eighteen” and “School’s Out”. Over the years Dunaway has performed and recorded with various bands including Billion Dollar Babies, Deadringer and Bouchard, Dunaway and Smith. In 2011 he performed and co-wrote 3 songs on Alice Cooper’s WELCOME 2 MY NIGHTMARE with his former Alice Cooper Group band mates Neal Smith and Michael Bruce. Later on that same year, the Alice Cooper Group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Currently Dunaway plays with the band Blue Coupe and he’s releasing a book titled SNAKES! GUILLOTINES ELECTRIC CHAIRS! on June 9th . I met the good-humored Dennis in New York and we talked about the book, Blue Coupe, and also the good old days.

Luca Turilli’s RHAPSODY, the masters of cinematic metal, will release their new outstanding album Prometheus, Symphonia Ignis Divinus on June 19th (EU), June 22nd (UK) and June 30th (US) via Nuclear Blast.

Today, the band presents the second single of the new opus “Prometheus” which includes Ralf Scheepers of PRIMAL FEARas part of the choir.

“Dear COB Hatecrew, we need to share something with you at this point. Our friend, brother, and a guitar player for 12 years, Roope, is no longer with the band. As we parted ways with no bad blood, we wish him nothing but the best and thank him for allowing us to share the last 12 years of our lives with him. Hope you know that this will not affect the upcoming shows or the new album as we recorded it as a four piece and it is already mixed, mastered, heavy as shit and ready to go! Enough said, See you soon!”

HELLOWEEN are one of the most influential and internationally successful acts of the global metal scene. With the release of their 15thstudio album My God-Given Right(May 29th EU, June 1st UK and June 2nd US) the pumpkin heads are set to further cement their title as the founding fathers of German melodic speed metal.

Today, HELLOWEEN has revealed the third out of four track-by-track trailers. Listen to song snippets and comments on the tracks‘Creatures In Heaven’, ‘If God Loves Rock’n’Roll’, ‘Living On The Edge’, ‘Claws’, ‘You, Still Of War’ here:

From Hell’s Heart:
7/8/9(!?) stringed guitars – Yay or Nay?

The standard guitar used by most metal guitarists is a 6-stringed instrument. In the past several years we’ve seen/heard a lot of players using 7 stringed guitars, and even some pushing the envelope with 8 and, yes, even 9 strings. Why? Does it make things more interesting? Heavier? More progressive? Is it a waste of time? We asked our contributors to choose a side and back up their “Yea or Nay” decision with examples of players/bands.

EPICA / ELUVEITIE Partner With Revolver Magazine For North American Co-Headlining Tour This Fall; THE AGONIST Supporting On All Dates

This fall, Dutch symphonic metal titans EPICA and Swiss folk metallers ELUVEITIE will join forces to co-headline across North America. This trek, sponsored by Revolver Magazine, also has Canada’s THE AGONIST supporting on all dates. Please see below for all tourdates and VIP ticketing information.

EPICA front-woman Simone Simons says the following about the upcoming tour: “We are ecstatic to finally return to North America. It is time to nurture our long-distance relationship with our fans over in North America. We’ll have a wonderful time together and will perform songs spanning our entire discography. You guys better be ready for us.”

This will mark EPICA’s long-awaited return to North America after the band’s tour with Machine Head late 2014 got cancelled. It will also be the group’s first North American run in support of their highly acclaimed latest album, The Quantum Enigma, which hit the charts all over Europe and beyond.